The Away feature lets you block time on a practitioner's schedule when they are unavailable, preventing appointments from being booked during that period. This article walks you through creating away time for breaks, meetings, vacations, sick days, and other temporary schedule changes.
When to Use This
Use this article when you need to block time on a practitioner's schedule for:
- Breaks
- Meetings
- Vacation
- Sick days
- Training sessions
- Charting/EMR Time
For permanent schedule changes, update the practitioner's Availability instead.
What You Need
- Access to the schedule
- The practitioner must already exist in the system
Permission
- User Type access to Manage Scheduling Aways
Contact your clinic administrator if you do not have the required access.
Instructions
Add a New Away
- Navigate to the schedule
- Click the icon beside the practitioner's name
- Select New Away
- Complete the relevant fields for the Away:
- Click Save
About the Away Fields
Type
- This is the label that will be displayed on the schedule
- You can create a custom label by selecting Other and filling in the Reason field
Reason
- This field will only appear when when Other is selected as the Type
- The text entered will show on the schedule
Recurring
- Selecting No means that this is a one-time occurence
- To learn more about Recurring Aways, see the below
Time
- Selecting All Day will block the entire day
- If you only need to block out part of the day, you can choose start and end time
Colour
- Aways are displayed in purple by default, but you your can select your own colour when preferred
Employee
- This is the practitioner whose schedule the Away is being created for
Creating the Away directly from the practitioner's schedule will automatically fill in this field
From
- Select the date the break will begin
To
- Select the date the break will end
Notes
- Add any relevant notes about the break
- Notes won't appear on the schedule, but they are visible when viewing the Away details
- Notes for certain aways cannot be edited. These Away types include Other, Unavailable, Notice, and End of Day. If you need to a delete or edit a note these types, the Away needs to be deleted and re-entered.
Result
The blocked time appears on the schedule and prevents appointments from being booked during the selected period.
Recurring Aways
If a practitioner will be unavailable on a recurring basis for a temporary period, such as monthly meetings, biweekly training sessions, or dedicated charting time, you can create a recurring Away.
Follow the steps under Adding an Away, but make the following changes:
In the Scheduling / Away window:
- Set Recurring to Yes
- Select a Frequency:
- Daily
- Weekly
- Biweekly
- Monthly
- Yearly
- Enter the start and end dates
The Away is automatically created according to the selected recurrence pattern until the end date is reached.
Things to Know
- Aways should only be used for temporary schedule changes
- Update the practitioner's Availability for permanent changes to working hours
- Some Away types do not allow the entered Notes to be edited later
Troubleshooting
I don't see the option to create an Away
- Your user role likely does not have permission to create Aways
- Your clinic's Level 2 Admin can update your User Type: Settings > User Types > Edit the User Type > Manage Scheduling Aways = Granted
I can't edit or remove my notes
- Notes for the Other, Unavailable, Notice, and End of Day Away types cannot be modified after the Away is saved
- To change the notes, delete the Away and create a new one
I created the Away with the wrong details
- Open the Away from the schedule and update the information if editing is available
- If the required fields cannot be changed, remove the Away and create a new one
Related Articles
How to Add a Practitioner's Availability